About

Solar Telescope Photograph of the Sun's Surface is a viral image of the first detailed image of the sun's surface as taken by the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii. The image inspired a series of jokes and comparisons with many saying the image resembled unpopped popcorn.

Origin

On January 29th, 2020, the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii released the first detailed images of the sun's surface (shown below).^[1]

Spread

That day, the National Science Foundations tweeted the images and videos of the findings. One video received more than 2.9 million views, 33,000 likes and 12,000 retweets in less than three days (shown below).

The NSF's Inouye Solar Telescope provides unprecedented close-ups of the sun’s surface, but ultimately it will measure the sun’s corona – no total solar eclipse required. 😎

More: https://t.co/UsOrXJHaY1 #SolarVision2020 pic.twitter.com/DO0vf9ZzKC

— National Science Foundation (@NSF) January 29, 2020

Following the release of the image, people began comparing the image to different foods, such as garlic bread and the Indian food chikki (shown below, left and right). Others compared it to popcorn products. For example, Twitter^[2] @jbiebsballin_ shared a photograph that received more than 1,300 likes in less than three days (shown below, right).

On January 30th, Redditor ^[3] crawlspeed posted a picture that compared the image to a rice cake (shown below). They wrote, "The new photos of the sun's surface, look like a close up of a rice cake."

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References